


here for you

by eliotkeats



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Gen, Male-Female Friendship, more misery cuddling, set during the whitestone arc
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-14
Updated: 2017-02-14
Packaged: 2018-09-24 07:18:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 683
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9710783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eliotkeats/pseuds/eliotkeats
Summary: Keyleth's woken sometime in the night by the noise of Percy coming downstairs.





	

The forest surrounding Whitestone has been far colder than anyone except Grog is accustomed to. Even Percy has spent so much time in the south that he’s affected by the biting wind, which grows colder as the evening draws on, and the sun sets without peeking out from behind the looming cloud cover once. Shadows, moist and dark as mold, creep across the upper floors of the inn.

“I wish Pike were here,” Keyleth says aloud, laying out her bedroll.

“Me too,” Grog says, through a full mouth, as he rustles through the bag of holding.  

Scanlan, face down on his bedroll, his purple shirt a pooling blotch against the floor, gives a thumbs up before his hand flops back down to his side.

“We all do,” says Vax, entering the small room. He pokes Vex in the neck until she grudgingly shifts to the other side of Trinket, and begins laying out his blanket beside the dozing bear.  

“Is Percy coming down?” Vex asked, muffled against Trinket’s fur.

“He said he can handle the watch.” Vax rubs the tips of his ears to warm them, then crawls in next to Trinket and drops Trinket’s paw across his chest, prompting a pleased rumble from the bear.

Keyleth sits back on her heels, absently rubbing her palms along her thighs. The oppressive moistness of Whitestone weighs on her exposed skin, making goosebumps to rise across her bare upper arms.

“Should we — I don’t know, guys, is leaving him alone the best idea?” Keyleth pulls her blanket up over her knees and scooches a little closer to Scanlan, who rolls closer until he’s pressed against her side, with hardly a grumble.  

“He’s...kind of fucked up, but I don’t think we have to worry about him sneaking out,” Vax says.  

“Yeah,” Vex says. “That sounds like something _someone else_ would be more prone to.”

“Got fur in my ears, say again?” Vax says.

Keyleth throws a worried look at the stairs, but carefully takes off her circlet and places it beside her bedroll, then lies down next to Scanlan.

Vax wraps an arm around Scanlan and pulls him closer.

“Do I look like a bed warmer?” Scanlan complains, wriggling in Vax’s grip.

“You’re like a fucking furnace, Scanlan,” Vax says.

Keyleth gathers her blankets and moves closer to both Scanlan and Vax.

"...half-elf sandwich," Scanlan says, sounding a little resigned and slightly smug.  
  
"Ew," Vex says from the other side of Trinket, at the same time as Keyleth says, “Gross.”

Keyleth falls asleep eventually, once her teeth stop chattering and she stops shivering, despite Scanlan kneeing her in the upper thigh a couple times as he shifts in his sleep.

She’s woken sometime in the night by the noise of Percy coming downstairs and stumbling over Grog’s feet in the dark.  He makes his way to the other side of Keyleth, and lies down with his back to her, a good foot of chilly air between them.

She forces her drooping eyelids to stay open, staring at the folds where his coat pulls taut over his shoulders; just in case he wants to talk.

Keyleth hesitates for a second, before untucking her blanket from beneath Scanlan’s hip, and scooting over to Percy.  Pressing against his back, she throws one arm and half her blanket over him.  His arm, beneath hers, is tense, his back rigid as he holds himself still for another five seconds.  Then he sighs softly and relaxes against her, muffling a wet sounding cough in his sleeve.  

“Are you alright, Percy?” she whispers.

“I wish it were over already.”  Percy sounds tired and miserable. 

Keyleth fumbles in the dark for his wrist and finds it, giving it a reassuring squeeze.  His hands are clammy, and the moment she lets go of his wrist there’s a rustle of fabric as he tucks it beneath his side.  “It’s okay, we’ll take care of this together.  We’re here for you. ”

Percy doesn’t reply immediately, but as Keyleth begins to drop off to sleep again, she hears him murmur, “Hopefully no one comes to regret that."

**Author's Note:**

> working through my backlog of wips


End file.
